Republican institutions had been adopted by France and Portugal, and the spirit of democracy had permeated Great Britain and Norway and was gaining yearly victories elsewhere.

In 1912 the giant bulk of China adopted the form of government commended to he; by the experience of the nation which, more than any other, had preserved her integrity.

Autocracy and divine right, however, were by no means dead.
On the contrary, girt and prepared, they were arming themselves for a final stand.

But no longer, as in 1823, was America pitted alone against Europe.

It was the world including America which was now divided against itself.
It was chiefly the Spanish War which caused the American people slowly and reluctantly to realize this new state of things--that the ocean was no longer a barrier in a political or military sense, and that the fate of each nation was irrevocably bound up with the fate of all.